Reviews

Boston is a bit of a late bloomer when it comes to barbeque. We are known for shellfish, Italian food, and baked beans. Our Northern “realist” attitude is almost the polar opposite of Southern hospitality. The number of successful, reliable barbeque joints here can usually be counted on one hand (Sweet Cheeks and the Smoke Shop, anyone?) But none of this means that good-old Texas barbeque can’t thrive here.

Everyone loves a good brunch. Whether you want pancakes stacked high or greasy eggs and bacon, there’s plenty of great places in Boston that are friendly to a college student’s wallet. But when Fred, TasteBUds’ former editor-in-chief, came back to Boston for a visit, we knew we had to pick somewhere a little fancier to celebrate his return to Beantown.

Walking through the hidden treasure chest that is Allston, there are so many culinary gems to go through. It is easy to miss so many great restaurants, as people constantly flock to Tavern in the Square and Shabu-Zen, and so many amazing places are overlooked. Sabor do Brasil is a personal favorite of mine that I think is so under-appreciated. I almost want to keep it to myself just so I can keep enjoying it. Unfortunately, I feel too guilty not sharing something as great as this place, so buckle up ladies and gents.

“Late night studying, you want square pizza. Where do you go?” As featured on the popular TV show Suits, Seth Keller and Mike Ross end an intense Harvard trivia game with the aforementioned question that, according to Keller, “any self-respecting Harvard alumnus would know.”

In the middle of Harvard Business School lies a hidden treasure full of flavor and nostalgia: The Breakfast Club. And just like the classic '80s movie, I wanted to pump my fist in the air in triumph as I walked away dramatically. That’s how good the food was.

Terriers in East Campus, rejoice! A new Vietnamese restaurant specializing in pho and other Vietnamese dishes opened in Kenmore Square this past December. Branching out from its original location in Quincy, Pho Countryside serves a wide range of Vietnamese dishes including spring rolls, pho, vermicelli, and rice plates, just to name some.

I arrived at the prudential center at 3:40pm on Tuesday, taking my place in the rain behind the 30 plus people already waiting in line. Twenty minutes and the doors would be open. Twenty minutes, and I would be in Eataly.

Bar Mezzana is the place to be right now: it’s on Boston Eater’s “Hottest Restaurants in Boston” for November 2016, as well as Boston Magazine’s “Best New Restaurants in Boston” for 2016. And let me tell you: it deserves it.

Bar Mezzana is located in the South End and offers a warm, inviting atmosphere. Wine is the highlight here: it’s present in the decor, and is showcased all over the room. You can tell that the management takes care in their hospitality. The hostess was able to seat us an hour before our reservation time, our waitress went above and beyond, and the attendants were pleasant and swift.

Boston is undeniably an incredible city that offers endless possibilities and new experiences for all of its inhabitants. Included among these experiences are all of the unique and different restaurants just a few T stops away from BU’s campus. After moving from England a couple years ago, I often have a hard time adjusting to the lack of my favourite English delicacies and restaurants. Moving to Boston, however, was a blessing for my cravings, as the city offers not one, not two, but three (!) locations of one of my favourite restaurants: Wagamama

Known lately as “the other Korean-Mexican fusion place” that just opened up after OliToki, Coreanos is an up-and-coming food joint that just hasn’t made a name for itself yet. And among the lion’s den that is Allston- where restaurants such as BonChon and Sunset attract a majority of the crawlers - there’s really no surprise. It doesn’t help that this hidden gem is, literally, hidden behind an ornery row of liquor store markets and small pop-up restaurants. You need to be on the lookout to not just accidentally walk past it.

Growing up in Georgia, I was surrounded by Southern comfort food. Although it was delicious, I couldn’t help but feel as though I was missing out on a variety of other great foods that were out there. I first tried sushi at a grocery store after my mother forced me to. Little did I know that it would become my favorite food of all time.

If you are a ramen lover, you should check out Santouka Ramen in Harvard Square. Ramen is super trendy right now, and as such, there are a lot of different ramen shops scattered around Boston. Santouka serves its noodles in a delicious Tonkotsu broth, which is simmered to provide a lighter flavor profile than other broths. You can choose the original broth or choose from a few flavor combinations, including soy sauce (shoyu), miso, and spicy miso.

Have you ever thought about going somewhere other than the North End for your next Italian meal? If you have, then consider going to Babbo Pizzeria and Enoteca. Mario Batali’s restaurant, opened last April on the Waterfront, is a truly wonderful and authentic Italian experience. Bonus: the general manager is Caroline Conrad, a graduate of BU’s School of Hospitality Administration.

The end of the 2013-14 academic year is upon us, and unless you’ve got an incredible amount of restraint, you’ve probably been out of dining points since mid-March. So what’s a burnt out senior to do on a weekday night at 11:30pm, or even a Saturday when all the bars on the usual Allston strip are just too loud and paying more than $5 for anything seems egregious? Fortunately, there is plenty of cheap food available well into the night, provided that you know where to look. A few select BU-area bars mark the secret locations of some of the best gastronomic deals in the city, provided, with one exception, that you’re 21 or older. If you’re a freshman, a sophomore, or a junior whose birthday falls later in the year, you’ll have to wait a while to take advantage of this sacred information, but I guess that’s the price you pay for having at least one more year of rose-tinted collegiate youth ahead of you. Enjoy it!

When my parents came for a visit last weekend, they asked their hotel concierge for a recommendation on the best place to eat authentic Italian food in Boston. So we dined at Mama Maria’s restaurant, located at 3 North Square and just a stone’s throw away from Paul Revere’s house on the North End. The restaurant’s facade may be just as quaint and historic as the other buildings over on Hanover Street, but Mama Maria looks like a 19th century home on the inside as well.

Upon entering the restaurant, you are greeted by the hostess in a small corner to the immediate left. There is only one way to go from there: directly up a staircase that was naturally crooked from the effects of aging. The restaurant was established 40 years ago, but the interior looks like it hasn’t changed for 150. We were seated in the first of five dimly-lit dining rooms at Mama Maria. Fellow diners were both young and old and a mix of families, friends and dates.

Welcome fellow reader to the first of the TasteBUds’s Dining with the Editors Series!

In this series, TasteBUds editors will visit their favorite restaurants and bars, as well as new restaurants in the Boston area. We hope that our experiences and reviews will encourage you to explore the wonderful food mecca that is Boston! Let’s get started!

“6:00pm at Addis Red Sea. Be there,” read the group text.

This was the plan until the four foodies lost Nandini to the flu, and Taylor to a merciless amount of homework. That left Cat and Ro, two determined food enthusiasts, ready to look for the best eats around BU.

Should they have gone with the original plan for Ethopian Food at Addis Red Sea (a common favorite among the TasteBUds editors) or a new place? And if so, where? There were so many great places to eat close to home. Basho in Fenway, Camino Royale in Allston, Ribelle in Brookline and Tabenaro de Haro in South Campus were all options that they considered. Finally, they decided on Ro’s suggestion of a place called Shiki in Coolidge Corner.

Coolidge Corner is known for great food finds and ethnic cuisines, but Shiki is truly a hidden gem ( New word please nandini!) in the mix. In order to get to the restaurant, you will take a slight turn away from the main street of Harvard St. and keep walking until you see a faded red awning and a light ruby flag bearing the restaurant’s name.

At first glance through the street-level windows, Cat and Ro saw an intimate and quaint Japanese restaurant. The slightly yellow-orange tinge of lighting and minimalist decor added to a warm and homey atmosphere.

Cat and Ro looked at the other guest’s tables, and they saw many delicate and carefully crafted dishes varying from bright-colored slices of sashimi, to perfectly fried pieces of tempura. “We found our gem,” Cat exclaimed as soon as the two sat at their table.

Growing up in a Jewish family the most oddball food I’d eat once a year is gefilte fish, but as of now I would choose the haggis to the jarred ball of fish meat. On the other hand, if a timid eater were to know that haggis is grounded up lamb lung, liver, and heart stuffed into its own stomach casing, they might run for the kosher aisle instead.

Every year on January 25th, Scottish people worldwide celebrate their national poet, Robert Burns, with a traditional meal called a Burns Supper. In the entire city of Boston there is only one restaurant Scots can reminisce the food traditions of their homeland. Appropriately named, The Haven is located in the suburb of Jamaica Plain.

Since The Haven opened its doors four years ago, they annually hold a weekend-long Burns celebration. The event has become so popular that people have to make reservations at least a week in advance.

Ever since I was a kid, I have always loved seafood. It doesn’t matter if it’s steamed, deep-fried, pan-fried, broiled or baked, I love all the creatures of the sea (in my belly). But there’s one treasure in the ocean that stands out from the rest for me and that is the mighty oyster.

Oysters, in my opinion, are some of the most interesting morsels to eat. To be honest, I didn’t like oysters the first time I tried one and for a while, was apprehensive about trying one again. My first experience with an oyster can be summed up in three words: slimy, briny and gross.

It wasn’t until a couple of years later that I learned oysters, depending on where they are grown and harvested, produce different flavors, sizes and textures. Unbeknownst to me, there was a whole world of oyster varieties to taste and explore! After I learned that fact, I embarked on a quest to find the best oysters (and dollar oyster special) restaurants in Boston! Lucky for me, there are a number of phenomenal restaurants that serve great oysters in the Boston area.

Coming from Hong Kong where bubble tea is part of my daily diet, I am choosy when it comes to rewarding a bubble tea shop in Boston with my stamp of approval. Surprisingly, I don’t travel all the way to Chinatown when I crave that sweet goodness. Kung Fu Tea

After a four-to-five hour bus ride to New York, my friends and I were dying of thirst. The first shop we saw was Kung Fu Tea, a clean (which is rare) bubble tea shop that could probably only hold 15-20 customers but still had a massive HD screen television. I immediately ordered my favorite, taro milk tea. Once my friends and I took our first sips, our eyes bulged and we glanced at each other, signaling that our drinks tasted like home. Once I received the Facebook event that Kung Fu Tea was opening in Allston, I immediately clicked “attending.”